Pleasantville Faces Decision on Future of Village Swimming Pool
In less than four weeks Pleasantville residents will have a chance to swim in the village pool for the first time in two years after the pandemic forced the facility’s closure last summer.
Last week a task force that was established to conduct a community survey to gauge community feedback and address the pool’s longer-term future.
At the Apr. 26 Village Board meeting, Troy Tassier, head of the Pleasantville Pool Task Force, and task force member Jim Kennedy were joined by pool design consultant Steve Rimkunas of Rimkunas Engineering of Huntington, L.I. They have been meeting along with village officials for the last two months in an effort to weigh different options for the Lake Street pool’s future.
“We want to give the community something new for the future and we realize there are cost constraints,” Kennedy said.
Sometime this summer, Rimkunas is expected to present designs on rehabilitating the existing pool or constructing a new pool.
“We’re excited to see what can be designed,” Tassier said.
According to Village Administrator Eric Morrissey, a resolution is expected to be voted on at the May 10 Village Board meeting that would formally hire Rimkunas as a consultant.
Keeping the kiddie pool or building a new one as part of a larger facility has been an issue that has been raised repeatedly in the past. Mayor Peter Scherer mentioned the matter again last week.
“There have been many comments about how many new pools are now dispensing with kiddie pools,” Scherer said. “Our pool survey indicated that a separate kiddie pool is preferred.”
Rimkunas said he also believes that a separate kiddie pool is a good choice.
“If you have one pool with a large wading pool, it would take up too much space,” he said. “Also, if there’s an accident in the kiddie wading area (of the larger pool) you’d have to shut the entire pool down.”
The existing larger pool’s basic shell is more than 70 years old and has seen numerous repairs. The liner was replaced in 2006 for $80,000, and village officials are not sure how much longer it may last.
Two years ago, the kiddie pool sprang a leak from return pipes around its perimeter. It was closed, the pipes were replaced and the pool was reopened.
Last year the village received a proposal from another pool designer for $3.5 million to completely rebuild the pool. Another estimate to rehabilitate the pool was $1.5 million. Both choices would have required a bond with an increase in property taxes and possibly a hike in pool fees.
“If we’re looking at rehabbing the existing pool, we are looking at over a $1 million bond,” Morrissey said. “If we are looking at a new pool construction, that too would require a bond. But something needs to be done to move forward. We’d like our pool to be used this summer and next summer and possibly start work after the next summer.”
Abby is a local journalist who has reported on breaking news for more than 20 years. She currently covers community issues in The Examiner as a full-time reporter and has written for the paper since its inception in 2007. Read more from Abby’s editor-author bio here. Read Abbys’s archived work here: https://www.theexaminernews.com/author/ab-lub2019/
